EMERGENCY accommodation was required for 330 households in Galway last year. There are currently 4,700 people on the housing waiting list in the county.
In 2012, 230 households approached housing charity Threshold due to a risk of homelessness.
“You could walk the length of Shop Street today and cross paths with people who are homeless and not know . . . it’s only obvious in exceptional cases," states Martin O'Connor, Assistant CEO of COPE Galway.
Homelessness in Galway - or indeed Ireland - is nothing new, but the recession has led to an increase in the number of those at risk.
"In Galway at any one time there could be 150 to 180 people classed as homeless. This includes people in homeless services.
"However, the amount of people who are ‘sofa hopping’ while technically homeless is often hard to estimate," says Bill Griffin, CEO of the Galway Simon Community.
"The number of women and young people is rising against the traditional population of the street homeless male,” Mr Griffin states.
Autumn 2010 – spring 2011 saw a “near explosion of young people [under 25 years of age] coming to COPE,” says Mr O’Connor. In the last quarter of 2010, 19 youths – 14 women and 5 men - contacted the organisation looking for help.
During the same time frame in previous years, this number was as low as three or four. This figure has since stabilised, but Mr O'Connor describes the number of young women contacting COPE in those three months as “phenomenal”.
“The age profile of people who are homeless is dropping. The number of children contacting us is increasing.”
He maintains that a large percentage of these young people fall through the cracks of the HSE care system due to a "lack of engagement" once they 'become adults' at the age of 18.
This assertion is shared by Mr Griffin.
"Some young people who have been in the child care system do not have adequate provision available when they reach 18 years of age. This is symptomatic of the reducing resources available to the HSE and Local Authorities to plan for and provide such provision," he says.
Inadequate services are not the only reasons young people end up homeless. Mr Griffin cites substance abuse and addiction as another mitigating factor, saying the effects of this can cause "a severe reversal of people’s lives; through loss of work, educational placements and exclusion from the family home".
Mr O'Connor feels the reduction in secondary benefits such as rent supplements and the unemployment benefit rate for people under the age of 25 was a “blunt instrument” used by the Government to make savings.
He insists this method is "not working at a micro level", and has exacerbated the problems that already surround affordability of housing in Galway and other urban areas.
Family breakdown and physical, sexual or emotional abuse also often play a role in people losing their homes.
Female homelessness is often the end result of abuse, according to Mr Griffin. He says many women are either thrown out of the family home or leave, frequently with children, for safety reasons.
"However, they often return . . . and the cycle starts again," he laments. On a positive note, he believes that women are "increasingly highlighting their needs, as opposed to suffering in silence".
In 2012, 99 households, including 110 children, were housed in COPE's domestic violence refuge. Mr O'Connor notes that there has been a drop in the capacity to accommodate, not in demand for this service, in recent times. One particular migrant family was housed there for 10 months.
Mr Griffin feels that many immigrants end up becoming homeless due, at least in part, to their lack of understanding of the red tape that surrounds Irish employment and social welfare.
"They are often at the extreme end of need before they become known to homeless services as they tend to seek support from within their own communities in the first place.
"A more proactive approach to working with immigrants and their communities might enable earlier and more effective intervention," he advises.
"Sleeping rough is a more attractive prospect in the west of Ireland than eastern Europe," says Mr O'Connor.
He recalls the wave of “economic migrants” that arrived in Galway a few years ago and maintains that, despite their struggles here, many have no desire to go home.
He feels some migrants never fully engaged with Irish society, instead settling for casual employment and living arrangements. As a result of this, they are “hanging on by their fingernails”.
He notes that “a very proactive approach is taken in Galway” to help migrants with housing issues but admits that “it takes an awful lot longer to come to a resolution regarding accommodation” due to status issues.
Ireland was one of a number of EU states that recorded an increase in homelessness among young people, immigrants and women from 2007 - 2012, according to Feantsa (the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless).
The economic downturn has put many people at risk of homelessness who would never have faced that prospect before.
"The implementation of austerity measures has seen the emergence of a new demand centred on financial hardship. This group has little or no knowledge of how to access help and the possibility of being homeless had never been part of their lives previously.
"Early identification of the problem is often prevented by people’s reticence to admit they have a problem and seek support," states Mr Griffin.
Many people are “keeping themselves afloat and no more than that . . . they are treading water,” reiterates Mr O'Connor.
COPE Galway's Family Support Service helps approximately 33 families a month, with 26 families currently availing of their emergency accommodation facility. This figure has more than doubled since 2011, when it stood at 11.
Re-integration into society
For those fortunate enough to be given a second chance following homelessness, re-integrating into society is not straightforward.
"The journey out of homelessness is a difficult one in relation to a number of factors," says Mr Griffin.
In order for this process to work, the elements of a person's life that went missing and led to their homelessness - be it employment, family or financial security - must be restored.
Both Galway Simon and COPE Galway provide transitional services to aid homeless people in the rebuilding of their lives.
“The shorter somebody is homeless the better,” says Mr O'Connor.
The ever-prevalent stigma associated with being homeless also causes a lot of difficulty for people.
Landlords are often reluctant to take a chance on homeless people - a stance that Mr O'Connor sees as somewhat fair; "You have to see it from their perspective too."
Mr Griffin states that those who end up homeless due to alcohol or drug addiction often have their progress derailed by a relapse. He says the same is true for those suffering from mental health issues - some 65pc of homeless people in Ireland have such a diagnosis.
The Government recently released a Housing Policy Statement which aims to eliminate long-term homelessness in Ireland by 2016. The previous target was 2013.
"The number of homeless people relative to other groups is small. While agencies such as ours interface at national and regional level in terms of campaigning, it is easy for this group to slip off the priority agenda," states Mr Griffin.
Both Galway Simon and COPE Galway receive State assistance in terms of funding, but they are also heavily dependent on public donations. The former receives a quarter of its running costs through fundraising and its two charity shops in the city.
"With statutory funding going down, our reliance on self-generated funds is going up. The State could help by just keeping funding at current levels for a couple of years," maintains Mr Griffin.
“People are supporting but giving less; they have less to give,” says Mr O'Connor.
While people’s monetary donations have decreased, their generosity of time has increased. Volunteers are always welcomed by both charities.
"The public can contact us and we can match what they can offer to what we need," adds Mr Griffin.
"The group we know of as homeless are made up of men and women from ordinary families who went to school, college and work with the rest of us.
"They are not a separate part of society, they are just a fluctuating group who find themselves in need of support to get back to where the rest of us are," he asserts.
For more information on Galway Simon, click here or telephone 091 381828. Further details on COPE Galway are available via their website or 091 778750.
